Adjustable wrench



June 16, 1925.

M. J. ECONOMIDES ADJUSTABLE WRENCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 7, 1924June 16, 1925. 1,542,291

M. .1. ECONOMIDES ADJUS TABLE WRENCH Filed y 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 invent Mia/aw I J Ebonomz'dfj Patented June 16, 1925. s

MICHAEL J. econompe er BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ADJUSTABLE whence Afap'iiittibn filed Ma 7, 19'24. serial No. 711,688.

To all whom it concern} 1 Be it known that I, MiCHAEL J. EooNo- MIDEs,acitizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, int-he county ofKings and State of New York, have invented certain n w and usefulImprovements in Adjustable Wrenches, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to an adjustable Wrench adapted to gripbolts, pipes, or siinilii'r cylindrical objects.

The inaiii object of tlie invention is to rovide such a Wrench which maybe used to take bolts and pipes of different diaineter's. For this purpsetiie i'vreneh consists of a head member upon which areinounted epeirof wedges provid d with grippin "teeth; Theitedge's' are niouflted sothat their gripping rates will advance toward or re tract item eachother ehd' may be secured in adjustedpositionf A further object ofwve'dgesiieped, With their outer surfaces 20 the invention is to providea 'wr'eiieh, the head of which is formed of readilysepai'able inati-ngseetieiis so as to permit said head sections to be convenientlypositioned around a pipe or a sleeve or hippie thereon for the urposerieinetiiig the sleeve or when the ends thereof are ermanentl atteehed'tee fixedsiippeite In the accompanying drawings; 1 Figure rrepreseiits tepplan view or the preferred 'fo'r'ttiof the invention,

Fig. 2 is a bottom plah yiet'v' of Fig. 1

Fig. 3 'ise s ctional-view along. line 38 e'fFig. 1, f g

Fig. 4.- .is a sectional View along line 4-4 ofFig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary seetienel view eiengiin 5=-5 of Fig.2,

Fig. 6 is .a to ples View, partly in seeden, of e modified feet or the,wirerieii Fig. 7 is a side elevation ef Figde, and

Fig. 8 is a side elevation illustrating the handle employed foroperating thewreiieh shown in Figs. and Y Referring first to thepreferred term of the invention illustrated Figs. 1 to 5' inelu'sive ofthe drawings, the reference nu ineral 10 represents the h ader thewrench and 11 the grippiiig jews slidebly mounted thereon. The head' lO' consists of two meting halves 12 and 13 previdedwith dowels 14 forroperly poeitiei i-iig the halves together, said section's being readilyseparable so as te p rmit the to be* enveiiienti placed around a pipe orat sleeve or nipple halves of the head'jtogether.

thereon for the purpose of removing the nipple or pipe when the ends ofthe pipe are permanently secured to a fixed support.

The head 10 has the shape of a flat-sided cylindrical disc with acentral opening 15,

the gripping jaws '11 sliding along the flat top surface 16 of the head,as best seen in Fig. 3, and being held in position thereon.

by means of parallel dovetailed grooves 17 openingthrough the topsurface 16 of the head and engaging correspondingly shaped ribs 18. Thisgroove and ribeonneetion may have either the forin illustrated in Fig.3; that is to say, forming dove-tails, or the grooves may be T-grooyes,in whichcase the ribs 18 will have the same cross section. In any ease,the jaws 11 are held in the head in sueh a manner that they cannot belifted theretroi'n, but slide in parallel rele tio fiaei'o'ss' the same.I

As best seenin' Fig. 1, the jaws 11 are pingjatvs are set, the grippingurieees 19,

Whether aelyzn'ice'd toward or retracted from each other, vt ill alwaysreinain parallel.

The'giippiiigs i ieees or the jaws ere pie yided with teeth or roughenedin any other suitable manner to obtain a firin hold upon the 'ebjeetitebe gri ped.

' On each oi the mating halves 12 and 13 of the head 10 is i'eyolub'lymounted at Worm 21 and these worms mesh with een es e ii ing Worm teeth22 eleiig the outer surfaces '20 of the-jaws, as best seen in Fig. 1. By

turning the worms 21,'it will now be evident that the grippingeeifeees190i" the jaws 11 niay be advanced toward each other.

t e firmly held e e 'lindrieei object 23 therebetween, thisobjetft'projetiiig through the Central aperture 15 in the base member.

On the under side of the head 10 is shown it strap 24 adapted to holdthe matin Along the out r peripher of the/head and near the under sidethereof, areratehet teeth 25 with which a dog 26; s'wiyeled as at '27upon the reteliethandie 28 is adapted to engage.

This dog has two ailhs terminating with 29 and, depending upon whieh ofsaid fingers is ieseee eaten, the ratehet handle 28 will turn the wrenchin a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, in the usual manner. Theratchet handle has. an arcuate guide 30 having a T-shaped inner flange81 engaging in a correspondingly shaped annular groove 32 openingthrough the cylindrical surface of the head, as best seen in Figures 3and 5. It will thus be evident that when both fingers of the dog 26 aredisengaged from the ratchet teeth 25, the arcuate portion 30 of theratchet handle 28 may travel in a complete circle around the head 10.\Vhen it is desired to remove a pipe section or a nipple connecting pipesections extending between two fixed parts, the worms 21 are rotateduntil the reduced ends of the gripping jaws are retracted beyond theline of junction of the head sec tions, after which said sections aresepa rated and swung laterally with the slotted strap 24 acting as ahinge or pivot. The head sections are then fitted around the pipe ornipple to be removed and the worms 21 caused to engage the teeth on thejaws so as to firmly grip the pipe, when the pipe section or nipple maybe conveniently removed by rotating or oscillating the handle of thewrench, as before stated. V7 hen the jaws are moved to the grippingposition, they extend in crossed relation to the meeting edges of thetwo sections, and since they fit into grooves formed inthe sections theywill serve not only as means to grip the pipe or other article disposedin the opening 15 but also; serve as locking means to prevent thesections from moving towards an open position.

In the modified form of the wrench illustrated in Figs; 6 and 7, thehead 33 is also made in two mating halves 34 and 35 doweled together asat 36, as previously described in connection with the preferred form ofthe invention. In this case, however, the head is provided with squaresectioned grooves 37 which open through the top surface of the head. Thedepth of these grooves is the same as the thickness of the jaws 38 sothat when the jaws are inserted in their respective grooves their topsurfaces become level with the top surface of the head 33 and nodove-tail or T-groove is necessary in this case. The jaws 38 are held inposition in the grooves by means of a cover or top plate 39 held down byscrews 40 on the head 38. As before, the jaws 38 are wedge-shaped, withtheir gripping surfaces 41 inclined toward the outer surfaces 42 of thejaws so that the gripping surfaces 41 are parallel to each other, andthese surfaces are provided with teeth or otherwise roughened as in thepreferred embodiment of the device. The width of the grooves37corresponds to the greatest width of the aws 38 and in order to keep theouter surfaces 42 alwaysin contact with the corresponding surfaces ofthe grooves, a stud 43 is provided on the upper side of each jawengaging in corresponding slots 1-4 provided in the cover plate 39. Theslots 44 extend parallel. to the sides of the grooves so that the studs43 are always guided parallel to the same.

Instead of the ratchet handle provided in the preferred construction, apin handle 45, terminating in a tapered tit 46 on its arcuate portion47, is furnished. The arcuate portion 47 of the handle is bent to thesame radius as the neck 48 on the head 33 and this neck is provided witha series of radially directed sockets or recesses 49 in which the tit 46of the handle is adapted to engage, as indicated in Fig. 6.

Instead of the pin handle or the ratchet handle 28, it is evident thatan ordinary open wrench may be used for turning this adjustable wrench,in which case the head of the latter wrench will be provided with ahexagonal or other flattened neck portion.

In the embodiment of the device illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, noadjusting means for the jaws 38 has been shown and the jaws willaccordingly be set by hand by pushing them inward to cont-act'with theobject to be gripped. It is, however, evident that fworm gears similarto the gears 21 and 22 shown in Figs. 1 and 3, may also be provided inthis case.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

'l. A, wrench comprising a head provided with an axially disposedopening to receive an a ticle to be turned, said head being formed ofmating sections having their end faces meeting along a diameter of thehead when in a closed position and said sections being adapted to bemoved into and out of. a closed position, and commonmeans for grippinganart cle disposed insaid opening and holding said sections in a closedposi- -t-ion, said means overlapping both sections when in a lockingposition.

2. A wrench comprising a head provided with an axially disposed opening.to receive an article to be turned, said head being formed of matingsections having their end faces meeting along a diameter of the headwhen in a closed position and said sections being adapted to be movedinto and out of a closed position, and a jaw slidably carried by saidsections for movement transversely of the meeting edges thereof and whenin engagement with both sections adapted to lock the sections in aclosed position.

3. A wrench comprising a head provided with an axially disposed openingto receive an article to be turned, said head being formed of matingsections having their end faces meeting along a diameter of the headwhen in a closed position and said sections being adapted to be movedinto and out llO of a closed position, and article-gripping jaws carriedby said sections at, Opposite sides of said opening, said jawsadapted tomove in crossed relation to the meeting edges of the sections andengageable with the sections to lock them ina closed position.

t. A wrench comprising a head provided wlth an axially disposedopening'torecelve an article tobe turned, said head being formed ofmating sections having their end faces meeting alonga diameter of thehead when the sectionsare in a closed position, means connecting saidsections for movement into and out of a closed position, said sectionsprovided in the upper faces of their the sections in a closed position,and meansto impart movement to said'jaws.

5. A wrench comprising a head provided with an axially disposed opening.to receive an article to be turned, said head being formed of matingsections havingtheir end faces meeting along a, diameter of the headwhen the sections are in a closed-position,

Imeans connecting said sections for movementinto and out of a closedposition, jaws slidably carried by the end portions of said sections formovement in crossed relation to theimeeting faces thereof and when inengagement with both sections serving to lock the sections in a closedposition, and means to permit turning of said head when in engagementwith an article. 7 6. A wrench comprising a head provided with anaxially disposed article-receiving opening and formed of substantiallysemicircular sections, hinge means pivotally connected with one sectionand slidably and pivotally connected with the other section, saidsections being provided in their end portions with grooves to registerat their inner ends when the sections are closed and form tracks uponopposite sides of the article-receiving opening, jaws adapted to beslidably mounted in said grooves and movable across the head with theirinner side portions overlapping the article-receiving opening, said awswhen in engagement with both sections serving to prevent movemer of thesections out of a closed position, and means to move said aws along saidtracks.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

MICHAEL J. ECONOMI 11.5.

